Days after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was formally inaugurated as the President of Brazil, right-wing supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed and ransacked the offices of the President, the Supreme Court and the Congress in Brasilia on the 8th of January. The attackers, who don’t accept the results that brought Lula to power for the third time, appealed to the Army to take power. That, however, didn’t happen.
Taking charge of the situation, President Lula ordered Army personnel into action, dispersed Bolsonaro’s supporters while arresting 1,500 of them, who are now going to stand trial. Not a single casualty was reported.
In an obvious parallel to the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January two years ago, the attacks on democratic institutions led to massive protests in Brazil calling for Bolsonaro’s supporters to be punished. International condemnation of the incidents too was quick.
Guest: Varun Sahni, professor of international politics at the Jahwaharlal Nehru University.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.
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